Future user research for exertion games

Exertion is gaining currency in digital game design. Exertion games promise increased athletic performance and hence health benefits. They also offer enhanced engagement due to the coupling of physical engagement with digital gameplay. Addressing these converging perspectives is one of the challenges currently faced by researchers. To illustrate the implications for game user research and provoke reflection about future challenges, we describe our current research on Joggobot, a flying robot companion for joggers. We present a set of questions from our work that we believe represent some of the key challenges researchers will face when considering robots in exertion games. Through these questions, we aim to support research into the future of exertion games and develop guidance for designers to create better game experiences that leverage the many benefits of exertion for player

Large N limit of SO(N) scalar gauge theory

In this paper we study the large $N_c$ limit of SO(N_c) gauge theory coupled to a real scalar field following ideas of Rajeev. We see that the phase space of this resulting classical theory is Sp_1(H)/U(H_+) which is the analog of the Siegel disc in infinite dimensions. The linearized equations of motion give us a version of the well-known 't Hooft equation of two dimensional QCD.Comment: 16 pages, no figure

The effect of long-term feeding of conjugated linoleic acid on fertility in Japanese quail

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of the long-term feeding of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on laying hen performance, egg fertility and hatchability of fertile eggs of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). One hundred and sixty 7-day old Japanese quail chicks were randomly assigned to four groups (40 birds per group) and fed for five weeks on a commercial diet supplemented with either 0.5% hazelnut (Group A), 0.5% sunflower oil (Group B), 0.25% CLA (Group C) or 0.5% CLA (Group D). The birds received water and feed ad libitum during the study. At the end of the five weeks the birds were sexed, and 21 females and seven males from each group were selected. For a further six weeks these selected birds were fed a layer diet supplemented with their respective sources of oil. Eggs were collected daily and incubated weekly. The fertility rate was determined by visual inspection at the end of the incubation period. Dietary CLA at the inclusion level of 0.5%, but not at 0.25%, caused a significant decrease in percentage hatchability of the fertile eggs compared to Groups A and B. Hatchability of fertile eggs from Groups A, B, C and D was 74, 80, 72 and 70, respectively. Fertility rates between Groups A, B, C and D did not differ significantly, and were 64.4, 56.4, 66.0 and 62.8%, respectively. Hen-day egg production of Groups A, C and D were similar, but in weeks 3, 4, 5 and 6, hens in Group B had a significantly lower hen-day egg production (%) compared to Group A. Also, in weeks 3, 4, 5 and 6, egg size in Group B was significantly lower than that in the other groups. From this study it is concluded that dietary CLA at inclusion levels of 0.25% or 0.5% did not influence egg fertility, egg weight and egg production in Japanese quail. South African Journal of Animal Science Vol. 36(2) 2006: 99-10

Large N limit of SO(N) gauge theory of fermions and bosons

In this paper we study the large N_c limit of SO(N_c) gauge theory coupled to a Majorana field and a real scalar field in 1+1 dimensions extending ideas of Rajeev. We show that the phase space of the resulting classical theory of bilinears, which are the mesonic operators of this theory, is OSp_1(H|H )/U(H_+|H_+), where H|H refers to the underlying complex graded space of combined one-particle states of fermions and bosons and H_+|H_+ corresponds to the positive frequency subspace. In the begining to simplify our presentation we discuss in detail the case with Majorana fermions only (the purely bosonic case is treated in our earlier work). In the Majorana fermion case the phase space is given by O_1(H)/U(H_+), where H refers to the complex one-particle states and H_+ to its positive frequency subspace. The meson spectrum in the linear approximation again obeys a variant of the 't Hooft equation. The linear approximation to the boson/fermion coupled case brings an additonal bound state equation for mesons, which consists of one fermion and one boson, again of the same form as the well-known 't Hooft equation.Comment: 27 pages, no figure

Mechanical slowing-down of cytoplasmic diffusion allows in vivo counting of proteins in individual cells.

Many key regulatory proteins in bacteria are present in too low numbers to be detected with conventional methods, which poses a particular challenge for single-cell analyses because such proteins can contribute greatly to phenotypic heterogeneity. Here we develop a microfluidics-based platform that enables single-molecule counting of low-abundance proteins by mechanically slowing-down their diffusion within the cytoplasm of live Escherichia coli (E. coli) cells. Our technique also allows for automated microscopy at high throughput with minimal perturbation to native physiology, as well as viable enrichment/retrieval. We illustrate the method by analysing the control of the master regulator of the E. coli stress response, RpoS, by its adapter protein, SprE (RssB). Quantification of SprE numbers shows that though SprE is necessary for RpoS degradation, it is expressed at levels as low as 3-4 molecules per average cell cycle, and fluctuations in SprE are approximately Poisson distributed during exponential phase with no sign of bursting

Perspective of turkish medicine students on cancer, cancer treatments, palliative care, and oncologists (ares study): A study of the palliative care working committee of the turkish oncology group (TOG)

Cancer is one of the most common causes of death all over the World (Rahib et al. in Cancer Res 74(11):2913–2921, 2014; Silbermann et al. in Ann Oncol 23(Suppl 3):iii15–iii28, 2012). It is crucial to diagnose this disease early by effective screening methods and also it is very important to acknowledge the community on various aspects of this disease such as the treatment methods and palliative care. Not only the oncologists but every medical doctor should be educated well in dealing with cancer patients. Previous studies suggested various opinions on the level of oncology education in medical schools (Pavlidis et al. in Ann Oncol 16(5):840–841, 2005). In this study, the perspectives of medical students on cancer, its treatment, palliative care, and the oncologists were analyzed in relation to their educational status. A multicenter survey analysis was performed on a total of 4224 medical school students that accepted to enter this study in Turkey. After the questions about the demographical characteristics of the students, their perspectives on the definition, diagnosis, screening, and treatment methods of cancer and their way of understanding metastatic disease as well as palliative care were analyzed. The questionnaire includes questions with answers and a scoring system of Likert type 5 (absolutely disagree = 1, completely agree = 5). In the last part of the questionnaire, there were some words to detect what the words “cancer” and “oncologist” meant for the students. The participant students were analyzed in two study groups; “group 1” (n = 1.255) were phases I and II students that had never attended an oncology lesson, and “group 2” (n = 2.969) were phases III to VI students that had attended oncology lessons in the medical school. SPSS v17 was used for the database and statistical analyses. A value of p < 0.05 was noted as statistically significant. Group 1 defined cancer as a contagious disease (p = 0.00025), they believed that early diagnosis was never possible (p = 0.042), all people with a diagnosis of cancer would certainly die (p = 0.044), and chemotherapy was not successful in a metastatic disease (p = 0.003) as compared to group 2. The rate of the students that believed gastric cancer screening was a part of the national screening policy was significantly more in group 1 than in group 2 (p = 0.00014). Group 2 had a higher anxiety level for themselves or their family members to become a cancer patient. Most of the students in both groups defined medical oncologists as warriors (57% in group 1 and 40% in group 2; p = 0.097), and cancer was reminding them of “death” (54% in group 1 and 48% in group 2; p = 0.102). This study suggested that oncology education was useful for the students’ understanding of cancer and related issues; however, the level of oncology education should be improved in medical schools in Turkey. This would be helpful for medical doctors to cope with many aspects of cancer as a major health care problem in this country. © 2018, American Association for Cancer Education

Regional-Scale Simulations of Fungal Spore Aerosols Using an Emission Parameterization Adapted to Local Measurements of Fluorescent Biological Aerosol Particles

Fungal spores as a prominent type of primary biological aerosol particles (PBAP) have been incorporated into the COSMO-ART (Consortium for Small-scale Modelling- Aerosols and Reactive Trace gases) regional atmospheric model. Two literature-based emission rates for fungal spores derived from fungal spore colony counts and chemical tracer measurements were used as a parameterization baseline for this study. A third, new emission parameterization for fluorescent biological aerosol particles (FBAP) was adapted to field measurements from four locations across Europe. FBAP concentrations can be regarded as a lower estimate of total PBAP concentrations. Size distributions of FBAP often show a distinct mode at approx. 3 μm, corresponding to a diameter range characteristic for many fungal spores. Previous studies for several locations have suggested that FBAP are in many cases dominated by fungal spores. Thus, we suggest that simulated FBAP and fungal spore concentrations obtained from the three different emission parameterizations can be compared to FBAP measurements. The comparison reveals that simulated fungal spore concentrations based on literature emission parameterizations are lower than measured FBAP concentrations. In agreement with the measurements, the model results show a diurnal cycle in simulated fungal spore concentrations, which may develop partially as a consequence of a varying boundary layer height between day and night. Temperature and specific humidity, together with leaf area index (LAI), were chosen to drive the new emission parameterization which is fitted to the FBAP observations. The new parameterization results in similar root mean square errors (RMSEs) and correlation coefficients compared to the FBAP observations as the previously existing fungal spore emission parameterizations, with some improvements in the bias. Using the new emission parameterization on a model domain covering western Europe, FBAP in the lowest model layer comprise a fraction of 15% of the total aerosol mass over land and reach average number concentrations of 26 L-1. The results confirm that fungal spores and biological particles may account for a major fraction of supermicron aerosol particle number and mass concentration over vegetated continental regions and should thus be explicitly considered in air quality and climate studies

Asymmetric intergroup bullying: the enactment and maintenance of societal inequality at work

What does inequality mean for dysfunctional organizational behaviours, such as workplace bullying? This article argues that workplace bullying can be understood as a manifestation of intergroup dynamics originating beyond the organization. We introduce the construct of asymmetric intergroup bullying: the disproportionate mistreatment of members of low status groups, with the intended effect of enhancing the subordination of that group in society at large. Analysis of data from 38 interviews with public and private sector workers in Turkey depicts a pattern of asymmetric intergroup bullying, undertaken to achieve organizational and broader sociopolitical goals. Respondents reported bullying acts used to get rid of unwanted personnel, with the goal of avoiding severance pay, or of removing supporters of the former government from positions of political and economic influence. Bullying was also described as working towards the dominance of the sociocultural worldview of one political group over another. We discuss asymmetric intergroup bullying as one mechanism through which acute intergroup hierarchy in the broader society corrupts management practice and employee interactions, in turn exacerbating economic inequality along group lines

Regional-Scale Simulations of Fungal Spore Aerosols Using an Emission Parameterization Adapted to Local Measurements of Fluorescent Biological Aerosol Particles

Fungal spores as a prominent type of primary biological aerosol particles (PBAP) have been incorporated into the COSMO-ART (Consortium for Small-scale Modelling- Aerosols and Reactive Trace gases) regional atmospheric model. Two literature-based emission rates for fungal spores derived from fungal spore colony counts and chemical tracer measurements were used as a parameterization baseline for this study. A third, new emission parameterization for fluorescent biological aerosol particles (FBAP) was adapted to field measurements from four locations across Europe. FBAP concentrations can be regarded as a lower estimate of total PBAP concentrations. Size distributions of FBAP often show a distinct mode at approx. 3 μm, corresponding to a diameter range characteristic for many fungal spores. Previous studies for several locations have suggested that FBAP are in many cases dominated by fungal spores. Thus, we suggest that simulated FBAP and fungal spore concentrations obtained from the three different emission parameterizations can be compared to FBAP measurements. The comparison reveals that simulated fungal spore concentrations based on literature emission parameterizations are lower than measured FBAP concentrations. In agreement with the measurements, the model results show a diurnal cycle in simulated fungal spore concentrations, which may develop partially as a consequence of a varying boundary layer height between day and night. Temperature and specific humidity, together with leaf area index (LAI), were chosen to drive the new emission parameterization which is fitted to the FBAP observations. The new parameterization results in similar root mean square errors (RMSEs) and correlation coefficients compared to the FBAP observations as the previously existing fungal spore emission parameterizations, with some improvements in the bias. Using the new emission parameterization on a model domain covering western Europe, FBAP in the lowest model layer comprise a fraction of 15% of the total aerosol mass over land and reach average number concentrations of 26 L�1. The results confirm that fungal spores and biological particles may account for a major fraction of supermicron aerosol particle number and mass concentration over vegetated continental regions and should thus be explicitly considered in air quality and climate studies